Ski poles are commonly used by a skier in Alpine skiing, in downhill, slalom, competition and cross-country activity and in cross-country skiing for pleasure, competition, long-distance skiing and the like. The ski poles provide balance, facilitate turning and are used to propel the skier and even to assist in braking the movement of the skier.
Generally the skier holds one pole in each hand and each pole can comprise a shaft or shank which can be composed of a metal or synthetic resin tube, and which is provided with a grip at its upper end and a point at its lower end.
The grip may be formed as a sleeve around the shaft and thus has its axis coincident with that of the shaft. A flexible loop or strap can be affixed to the head of the grip to be fitted over the wrist of the skier and thereby prevent loss of the poles.
The points, which are adapted to bite into snow or ice generally project somewhat beyond the disk or ring at the lower end of the pole serving to prevent excess penetration of the pole into the snow and to enable the pole to gain a more effective purchase on the snow.
The grip can be molded from a synthetic resin material and thus is an extension of the shaft or surrounds the latter.
As skiing techniques have evolved and reached high levels, both for competition skiing and even sophisticated pleasure skiing, it has become increasingly important to enable the skier to plant his poles well forwardly of his feet for many skiing maneuvers.
Thus, while earlier skiing techniques required the poles to remain more or less upright when the points were planted ahead of the skier, i.e. at arms length even with the skier in a crouching position, more modern techniques require the poles to be inclined forwardly and downwardly i.e. to form an acute angle with the slope or ski surface so that the points of the poles are planted a considerable distance ahead of the hands of the skier, and of course, as the skier crouches forwardly, substantially more forwardly of the feet.